


Red

by misbehavingvigilante



Series: Tales Inspired by the Discord Year 1 [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining Steve Rogers, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-27 01:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbehavingvigilante/pseuds/misbehavingvigilante
Summary: “Bad night?” Tony asked and the fact he’s able to be surprised at all when Tony isn’t exactly known for being subtle is a clear indicator that Steve is, in fact, having a bad night.





	Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [riseupwiseupeyesup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riseupwiseupeyesup/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, [Rise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riseupwiseupeyesup/profile)~!!!
> 
> I admittedly wasn't entirely sure what to write you but I offer you some stony h/c in hopes it will find you well and happy! I know it's not quite your birthday yet, but I figured I'd go ahead and post just because I've already been sitting on this fic for a little bit and wanted to release your gift out and onto the world!
> 
> **Huge** shoutout to [onlymorelove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/only_more_love/profile) who helped beta this piece into absolutely perfection! 
> 
> I don't believe I missed any tags, but if you think I did let me know. 
> 
> With that said, enjoy!!!

“Bad night?” Tony asked and the fact he’s able to be surprised at all when Tony isn’t exactly known for being subtle is a clear indicator that Steve is, in fact, having a bad night.

Steve sighed, letting that be his answer, as Tony, without waiting for an invitation, or perhaps seeing that he needed the company, sat down beside him on the couch. Steve didn’t even know what the tv was playing, it was really one of the only sources of light in the communal room with all others being turned off since most people were asleep right now. The light and noise were comforting in a way, hence why he had turned it on rather than sitting there in the dark with his thoughts.

“Info commercials, right?” Tony clicked his tongue, evident with his disapproval. “Out of all the channels you could pick, clearly this means I need to update my cable package. J, make a note of that will you?”

“It has been noted, sir.” 

“You’re the best.”

“I do try.”

Steve waited a moment to see if Tony was going to respond to that, knowing how impassioned he could be when speaking to Jarvis, or any of the bots, really, after too many times of cutting off a response, or Tony outright ignoring him to respond to one of them instead.

“I’m guessing Jarvis told you?” Steve wondered. It was likely Tony had it so Jarvis was programmed to alert an available Avenger if it seemed like one of them was in a bad spot.

“No, I’m actually cursed with foresight, but the thing is no one believes me if I tell them.” Tony deadpanned, free of his usual amused tone, though his face remained relaxed. The arc reactor was stable as always, helping his heart beat in his chest. Since Steve’s enhanced hearing could pick up on that, sometimes it was great for lie detecting if the need ever came up.

For some people, however, lying was second nature. Tony was one of those people, a lot like Natasha in that way but for quite different reasons.

A business background required a degree of bullshitting, as Tony had so eloquently put it. However, there was something familiar about that excuse.

“…isn’t that a story from Greek mythology?” 

“Cassandra.”

There were a lot of ways Steve could have imagined this conversation going, but this path had been too odd to anticipate, and in a way, that was just what he needed. It made him pay more attention to the present instead of getting lost in the past. 

It had probably helped that Tony demanded even more of his attention by reaching over him to get to the remote. It had been on Steve’s right side, sitting on the couch’s arm, so naturally instead of just asking Steve to hand him the remote like a normal person might, Tony did this. There was the press of contact for just a moment. That only made Steve feel a little worse when it was taken away from him because Tony was warm.

Steve watched Tony out of the corner of his eye, pretending to watch the tv as Tony flipped through channels far too fast to have really had an opinion on whatever was airing. He took in Tony’s features like he would when he was examining something to commit it to memory so he could sketch it later.

Tony’s hair was turned up at odd angles, implying that whatever sleep he might have gotten was in a weird position or that Tony had ended up shocking himself again enough to have gained the hairstyle. Steve sure hoped it was the former, but knowing Tony, the latter was the safer bet,given all the experiments he did in his lab. His eyes were attentive and bright, and not hazy with the lull of sleep just hanging over them, but not quite with the manic glow that too much coffee brought into those brown eyes.

There was a splattering of something dark on Tony’s neck which explained why the smell of grease was stronger on Tony today. He usually faintly smelled of it, but the pattern made it seem like Tony had held a wrench between his neck and shoulder for some reason earlier on tonight. His white tank top was giving away in some areas, showing small slips of skin underneath, hinting that its life was probably coming to an end soon.

Steve couldn’t deny it was a snug fit though, it was great at showing off Tony’s fine musculature even if it paled next to Steve’s own. In a way, it was more quintessential Tony Stark, than Tony Stark in a suit.

There was a splash of red at Tony’s short nails. Though the polish was cracked in some areas, apparently Tony had painted his nails at some point. But working with his hands as much as he did, it didn’t seem to last long. The red wasn’t too far off from the red used in Iron Man’s armor, but the artist in Steve could tell it wasn’t quite the same shade.

Steve let his eyes drift down, seeing another small stretch of skin where Tony’s tank top and pants failed to meet, since the dark pants were worn more off the hips, showing a slight prominence of Tony’s hip bones. Be it from comfort or just how they fit to begin with Steve wasn’t sure, but he followed them down until he saw the barest hint of Tony’s toes as most of his feet were hidden under the length of his pants.

More red highlighted the nails there, matching the ones on his hands. The main difference being these didn’t have nearly as many chips in the polish.

“Do you really like the nail polish that much?” Tony chuckled, sounding amused and more like himself again as Steve met his eyes, trying to ignore the feeling that the once-over he gave Tony was perhaps less out of artistic interest than he imagined. 

“It’s a nice color, but not quite the shade of the armor.” Steve focused on that because that was a considerably safer thought.

“Yeah, I know.” Tony shrugged. “Trying out different formulas to find the right one, didn’t think to ask you when I probably should have.”

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t see colors like most everyone else did for a long time.”

It had been a little challenging as an artist when he couldn’t see certain colors, and then the ones he could sometimes looked completely different than what others saw. That’s why he stuck with sketching, for the most part, only experimenting thereafter with color in his life.

Not that there had been a lot of time to do that after becoming Captain America; it was something the future had gifted him, the time to be able to explore those hobbies.

Another thing to add to the plus column. Steve took a steadying breath, not wanting to backtrack to those thoughts again when he had just managed to beat them back off thanks to Tony’s presence.

“Do you want me to paint your nails?” Tony offered, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “I have other colors, if you don’t like red.”

“No, red is fine. I like red.”

Steve internally berated himself for that comment—it seemed too obvious—but he was probably just imagining things.

“Sure thing, Cap.” Tony flashed him one of his brief but blinding smiles as he set down the remote, and got off the couch so he could head back to his lab. It seemed like a weird place to store nail polish, but then again Tony spent more time down there than anywhere else.

Steve rubbed the back of his neck nervously the moment Tony left the room. God, he was really hopeless if Tony had that much of an impact on him. It was hard to imagine that not very many minutes ago he had been lost in his thoughts, and now all his thoughts were full of Tony again.

Well, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

It was a brand new world, right?


End file.
